Top Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List

 Top Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List

Hosted by The Broke and Bookish!

Bridesmaids by Jane Costello

I was gifted this on the latest Ninja Book Swap, and is the first book by Jane, so I cannot wait to read this as I love the last one she published and am so excited for ‘The Love Shack’ in April. Thanks to the ‘Books and The City’ blogger event earlier this month, I also have quite a few of Jane’s other books, maybe I should have a Jane Costello Week?!

The Two of Us by Andy Jones

I’ve been on a ‘real book’ ban due to the netgalley challenge over the past month or so, and I’ve been sorely tempted to break it for this book, and hearing Andy read out an excerpt made it even harder for me to keep to this, so this will most likely be one of the first ones I read during the paperback challenge month.

Welcome To Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop Of Dreams by Jenny Colgan

Having recently read ‘The Little Beach Street Bakery’ and the sequel, I instantly put this book on my wishlist, as both those books were wonderful and I have an insane sweet tooth, so this is perfect for me, and a massive thank you to Tanya who sent me this book!

Coming up Roses by Rachael Lucas

The author shares my name, so automatically gains bonus points! Seriously though, the cover for this is so cute, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Rachael’s previous book ‘Sealed with a Kiss’.

The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood

I loved Kirsty’s debut novel (and infact was the second book I reviewed on this blog when I tried blogging the first time around – but the review is terrible so have unpublished that to avoid embarrassment lol), and this one sounds just as good, if not better. I cannot wait to dive in!

Winger by Andrew Smith

I have wanted this book for I cannot remember how long and was so happy when I won it in a giveaway! Another YA book for me to get my teeth into. Absolutely cannot wait to read this, I know, I’m saying that for all these books, but it’s genuinely true for them all!

The Valentine’s Card by Juliet Ashton 

Another book that has been on my wishlist for an absolute age (Thanks Suus!!) the cover has pretty pinky red foil and the synopsis makes me want to just weep, so I can tell that this one will pull on the heart strings!

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

I’ve never read a graphic novel before and this one has really intrigued me with the synopsis and beautiful art style! Just beautiful, it is possibly another one that will get me emotionally.

Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale

I hadn’t heard of this book before I picked it up on my visit to Waterstones Piccadilly, but it really stuck out on the shelf and after reading inspired me to buy it. Another young adult book to add to my ever growing collection.

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Young Adult. Sophie Kinsella. Do I need to say any more about how flipping excited I am about this book?!

Books and the City Spring Blogger event!

I apologise in advance for the lack of photos from the event, I was on emergency battery power and needed to conserve some incase there was a problem on the way home! However I am looking in investing in a portable charger as a consequence :) 

17th of March means St. Patrick's day for many, but for this year at least, to me it meant only 1 thing -my first blogger event, which was Books and the City's Spring Blogger Event, and I was lucky enough to be invited.

Of course this gave me the opportunity to spend the day in London, so I got up at the crack of dawn and did just that! I wanted to visit the British Library but somehow I managed to fill my day just book shopping. First stop was Waterstones Piccadilly where I bought a signed copy of 'Under my Skin' by James Dawson and 'Someone Else's Life' by Katie Dale.

After a stop of for a mango fruit cooler and reading session at Costa I stopped off at the mothership... uh I mean Foyles, where I bought 'Vendetta' which is book 1 in the Blood for Blood series which I confess, I bought solely because of the beautiful side, I'm so fickle!

After stopping for a late lunch I made my way to Books and The City HQ, and was welcomed by the very lovely Sara-Jade and was led into a room full of biscuits and, more importantly, book bloggers! After chatting for a bit, we took our seats and the main event began. We had 5 wonderful authors introduced to us and they all read an extract from their book and answered a few questions.

First up was Jane Costello with her book 'The Love Shack'  which is out April 23rd. This was fricking hilarious from beginning to end, a well picked extract and I need to devour this book pronto, Jane is without fail one of the funniest authors I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I can only imagine how moving in with the mother-in-law would be. My mother-in-law is lovely, but me and Simon almost had to move in there for a week between moving houses, and that was enough to scare me, let alone months!

Next was Iona Grey with her debut novel 'Letters to the Lost' (released 23rd April) is set during the present as well as the past, but mostly focusing on two people in WW2. This sounds beautifully romantic, and I heard from Alba (from Alba in Bookland) that it was extremely good and very sad. Hearing Iona read it only made me want to read it more, and I know when I next feel like a book to make me emotional, this will be my first stop.

The third author to read and speak was Andy Jones, whose debut book 'The Two of Us' is available as an ebook now and as a paperback on May 7th. I have been eagerly anticipating this one and the section Andy read to us only made my enthusiasm sky rocket. Hearing a book like this from a mans perspective is really quite unusual, and I really need to read this book now!

Our fourth author is Heidi Swain her book 'The Cherry Tree Cafe' is out on the 16th July and is the first Books and the City digital original, and what a delicious treat it sounds. It just sounds the exact book you want to read from start to finish in one go with a slice (or two) of cake!

Last but by no means least we have Milly Johnson and her new book 'Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Cafe' released on the June 18th. I've read a couple of Milly's books before and this one definitely sounds like it's going to be exactly the funny and often touching read I've come to know from Milly's books.

After all that it was time for some fizz, some food (though i was still pretty stuffed from lunch so only had a sausage roll) and a chance to meet the authors. We also had the opportunity to pick up some books, which was very generous indeed. Thank you so much Sara-Jade, all the authors and all the team at Books and the City for making my day Simply fabulous!

Me and Mr J by Rachel McIntyre

Synopsis

Fifteen-year-old Lara finds her soulmate. There’s just one problem – he’s her teacher.

Lara's life has changed radically since her father lost his job. As the eldest, Lara tries to keep upbeat, and the one outlet for all her problems is her diary where she can be open about how dire everything is at home, and worse, the fact that she’s being horrifically bullied at school. 

And then a shining light comes out of the darkness – the new young and MALE teacher, Mr Jagger. The one person who takes Lara seriously and notices her potential. The one person who is kind to her. The one person who she falls madly and hopelessly in love with. The one person who cannot reciprocate her feelings … can he?

Review

As I’ve mentioned before I want to get into reading more Young Adult books and this one really attracted me with the synopsis. Lara’s perspective was really interesting hearing her thoughts in both justifying the relationship and how deeply she fell for Mr Jagger. It’s a situation that isn’t right or allowed, so can you empathise with the characters and understand how such a situation can come about?

I would say yes, while obviously Mr Jagger and Lara’s relationship is obviously wrong, I would be lying if I said I didn’t empathise with them, wishing it was a different situation. The way the relationship was written made it so that, if you didn’t know they were teacher and student, you would be rooting for them.

The relationship doesn’t start properly till quite a way through the book; the lead up is learning what leads up to Lara and Mr J getting closer. Lara doesn’t seem like the sort of girl who would intentionally go after a teacher. Yes, she fancied him, but didn’t seem to actively try to make herself sexier or more attractive/interesting. She only got closer to him after seeking refuge from the other major plot in the book, the bullying she endures.
The bullying she goes through is terrible, not helped by losing her best friend to the ringleader of the bullies. She also loses her favourite items that help her escape from the bullying either mentally or physically. It was truly horrid the things she went through! Add to this, her family's troubles where she is relied on to look after her younger brother while her mum works and her dad seems to just be depressed. She is going through a lot and I really felt for her.

This books ending was quite short, but it tied everything up, and actually I really enjoyed it. It was incredibly honest, I imagine that would be exactly what Lara would feel like if she wasn’t a fictional character. This book has it’s characters written very well, you really feel you understand them, and that is the beauty of this book.

Buy on Amazon now! 

Published by: Electric Monkey
Gratefully received from the Publisher for review.

Goodread's Book Club

I was speaking to my good friend Tanya the other day (you'll find her on twitter @tanyainwales) and she mentioned wanting to join a book club, which got me thinking... I used to belong to a book club but i only really enjoyed a a few of the books, one of which was one I chose and had already read beforehand. I think the books I choose to read myself aren't usually the types of books that are generally selected in book clubs. Of course there are a few, but you don't see 'The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic' on any book club lists do you?! I'm not talking exclusively Chick Lit/Women's Fiction, as I do enjoy other genres and want to try new books, so please suggest any book you like but I know I am a lot more compatible in book selection with my friends that I've made through blogging and twitter.

I have taken matters into my own hands and have started a Goodreads group to discuss books in general but also have a monthly read along where we can all discuss one book in particular. This month's book choice is 'Little Beach Street Bakery' by Jenny Colgan.

Synopsis:
Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their townhouse, she has to move miles away from everyone, to the sleepy little seaside resort of Polbearne, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop.

And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favourite hobby: making bread. But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better. With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey (courtesy of local bee keeper, Huckle), and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes . . . And people start to hear about it.

Sometimes, bread really is life . . . And Polly is about to reclaim hers.

Check out the group on goodreads, and please feel free to join in our chat :)

Rachel's Book Club and Discussion Group
20 members After my friend Tanya mentioned wanting to join a book club, I mooted the idea of creating a good...

Books we've read

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